Den farliga pojken och den utsatta flickan - En kvalitativ innehållsanalys om hur flickor och pojkar framställs i beslut enligt 3 § LVU

Abstract

Already during the 90s, research showed that girls and boys are presented in different ways in judgments according to § 3 LVU. While sexuality was given a large space in the girls' judgments, it was barely mentioned in the boys'. This study aims to investigate how the legal genders boy and girl are presented in judgments made according to § 3 LVU during 2023. This will be analyzed with gender theories by Judith Butler and Yvonne Hirdman to examine how notions of gender is expressed in the judgments. The study is a document study containing 32 judgments and they are analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. The results are presented in themes. Our results show that boys and girls are still described in different ways and different risks are formulated in the judgments. Girls' sexuality is still seen as deviant, while boys are described based on their criminal acts and offending behavior. Our results also show that notions of gender permeate the judgments, which both boys and girls risk being disadvantaged by. The results of the study highlight that further research in this area is needed as the existing research is older.